Information Privacy Concerns and Workplace Surveillance

Abstract

Consumers' privacy concerns have escalated in parallel with our increasing dependence on technology and its pervasiveness into social and work environments. Many of these concerns emanate from the paradox that is the willingness of consumers to provide personal information in order to achieve a specific outcome, whilst equally harbouring the contradictory desire for such personal information to be treated as private. Although examinations of information privacy have tended to focus on the transaction environment, the computer-mediated work environment has emerged as a new and significant area of concern due to increased awareness of the ways in which technologies are now being used to monitor employee email, Internet interactions, and work productivity. Such surveillance concerns are likely to negatively impact employee morale and consequent productivity. However, little attention has been paid to this issue to date. This chapter examines a number of emerging issues concerning technology-enabled workplace surveillance and considers whether the privacy concerns of employees can be successfully balanced against managements' justification for the employment of such technologies in the workplace. In doing so, it provides a balanced perspective that will be of assistance to academics and practitioners alike in dealing with this emerging and contentious issue.